by Karen MacRae
Seven determined faces nodded although Spider was looking particularly nervous. His gut was in knots, but he was damned if he was going to be the weak link.
Caitlin soon returned, ready to take the lead on foot. “Let’s go!” she said with a grin, waving Beitris forward. The Dornie guard was going first, then Finn, Spider, Seleste, Anna, Malik and Jimmy. Euan was going last, leading Jimmy’s horse.
Spider was massively relieved to see the ledge wasn’t as bad as he’d feared, especially if he kept his eyes firmly on his mount’s ears. It took him valuable seconds to realise his gut was still in knots despite being more relaxed. He looked around too late. A huge fireball was almost upon them.
Seleste and he yelled, “Duck!” at almost the same time. Everyone immediately crouched over their horses’ necks and the fireball crashed harmlessly above Anna and Seleste’s heads, the updraft forcing it higher than intended.
Mystrim made no such mistake with the second fireball. Following immediately behind the first, it smashed into Anna’s horse’s hip, searing everything it touched. Malik’s horse backed up towards the cave in panic, stretching the safety line taut and pulling Anna back in her saddle just as her horse reared in agony, screaming.
Malik fought to keep his horse in place as Anna clutched at the pommel and clung on with her legs. She flooded white energy into the area to ease the horse’s and her own burns, but the horse was in a blind panic.
The front four riders were just about holding their mounts steady when Anna’s poor horse was hit on the shoulder by a third fireball. The scorched safety line gave way when the horse reared again. Its screams proved too much for the others. Out of their mind with panic, the four horses at the front ignored their riders’ commands and charged for the main trail.
Anna’s horse’s front legs slammed back down, ready to follow them, but its right hoof slipped on the edge of the ledge. The horse scrambled for secure footing, but its cloven hoof found only air. Its leg slid over the side and the horse crashed to its chest. Pain went shooting through Anna’s bad arm at the impact and she went tumbling from her saddle.
Everyone heard the crack of the Shaper’s head hitting the edge as she went over the side.
Malik was pulled from his horse with the jolt of Anna’s fall and found himself dangling under the ledge, the Shaper swinging lifelessly below him, blood pouring from her skull. Anna’s horse made it back onto four feet and bolted after the others, Malik’s horse right behind.
Jimmy had been just leaving the cave when the chaos had erupted. He’d known what was going to happen when he saw Anna go over the side and he’d jumped straight to the only thing he could see to wedge his feet against. His soles pressed against a small protruding rock, his hands wrapped around the line, his muscles bulging as he took the strain of holding the combined weight of his two friends. Only his immense strength was stopping all three of them from hitting the valley floor. He saw a fourth fireball head towards them, but there was nothing he could do about it so he put it from his mind. All he could do was hang on.
Finn told the others to stay out of sight on the main trail and ran back into plain view of their enemies. He stopped on the bend and held a small bag out over the drop with an outstretched arm. The threat was clear. The beads went to the bottom of the valley if any more fireballs were thrown. A fifth fireball veered east and exploded harmlessly on the rocks below.
Euan could sense Anna was alive, but badly injured. He was desperate to go and see her, to try to pull her up, but he knew he had to secure the line first. He tied a second rope to Jimmy and ran back into the cave to anchor it. He was just finishing when he heard Malik shout, “She’s going to fall! Anna’s going to fall! The rope’s burned almost right through. Someone do something!”
Seleste didn’t think twice. She ran ahead of the others, straight along the ledge, right past Finn, and jumped.
Malik watched in horror as the woman he loved flew through the air. He felt his stomach clench as she landed hard onto loose scree and started to slide, heading straight for another drop. Somehow, she got back up onto two feet and began to run over the loose stone until she crouched on a small patch of solid ground.
“Cut the rope when I get there, Cherry! I won’t be able to wait,” she shouted at the top of her voice. Then she jumped again, her feet seeming to move quicker than the rock could slide beneath them.
Malik put his dagger against the rope holding Anna. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do, but he had to trust Seleste.
“Now!” she screamed, launching herself uphill.
The Shaper fell like a dead weight, straight into the assassin’s arms. She collapsed as Anna hit her, using her own body to break the girl’s fall. The pair slid as one - straight for the jagged rocks at the bottom of the slope.
No one moved. Each second seemed like a lifetime. Then Seleste somehow got her body underneath Anna’s and her feet downhill. She dug her boots into the scree and held Anna on top of her, out of harm’s way. They came to a stop barely two feet from a solid upright.
Seleste raised a hand to let them know she was still alive.
Finn, Spider and Jimmy hauled an unscathed Malik back onto the ledge. Euan was in shock, his eyes fixed on the tiny figure below, praying for her to move. He couldn’t comprehend how Seleste had managed to save her but save her she had. Anna was alive.
“It broke,” Malik repeated again and again, his eyes fixed on Seleste. “I was about to cut it, but it broke. Light, I would have been too late. It just broke.” He thought his heart might burst with pride when he saw Seleste wriggle out from under Anna and wave.
“She’s hurt badly,” the assassin called. “Nasty head injury, burns on her upper body plus some minor stuff, but she’s alive. She’s unconscious though so she can’t Heal herself.”
“How are you?” called Finn.
Seleste was covered in deep cuts and huge bruises from her feet to the top of her head. Her leathers had protected her for much of the mad slide, but even they’d had their limits. Her back looked like she’d been scrubbed with wire wool then whipped and beaten mercilessly. “I’ll live,” she called. “I’ll need a new set of leathers though!”
“Finn, if we can’t wake her, I’ll need to get Anna to a woman who lives a couple of miles west of here,” Euan told the King’s man. “She’s a hermit, hasn’t spoken to anyone in years, but o’papa told me she was a Healer.”
“Can your sisters destroy the beads without you?” Finn asked.
Euan shook his head. “They don’t have the strength.” His shoulders slumped in acceptance. “Cailtin can take her,” he said.
Finn put his hand on Euan’s shoulder in sympathy. He knew only too well how hard it could be to put duty above self. He walked over to speak quietly to the big Ionantian. “Jimmy, I need you to take Anna to a Healer. When you get down there give me an honest assessment of Seleste’s injuries. Knowing her, she’s making light of them. If they’re as bad as I suspect, she’ll have to go with you.”
Euan helped get the climbers ready for their descent. Long ropes and special peristone rings allowed them to abseil down the hill. Jimmy went first. He took one look at Seleste’s denuded, horrifically slashed back and shouted up for a spare jacket. While they waited for Caitlin, he made the assassin lie on her belly and he washed and dressed the worst of the wounds, dusting them with a thin coating of green herbs that Seleste described from her assassin’s stash. “They’re Anna’s mother’s recipe. Work wonders. Not as wonderful as Anna’s Healing, but the next best thing.”
Jimmy looked at Seleste’s eyes. “You taken anything else?”
“Painkiller. I’m good to go though,” she said, sitting up with a small groan.
“You going to be able to walk?”
“Nothing big’s broken so, yes, now the painkiller’s kicking in. I’ve got about two hours before it wears off.”
Jimmy looked up at Finn. “Seleste’s coming with us,” he shouted matter-of-factly.
&nbs
p; Caitlin arrived with the spare jacket and rope to tie Anna onto Jimmy’s back so his hands were free for scrambling over what rocks couldn’t be avoided. The Shaper didn’t stir, even when the rope pressed into her burned skin. Jimmy resolved to get her to this Healer as fast as humanly possible.
The pair helped Seleste to stand then put Malik’s spare jacket over her ragged leathers. Caitlin drew her breath in sharply when she saw the mess the scree had made of the Dancer’s back but understood Jimmy’s quick sign language and took the frown from her face before their friends saw it.
The jacket came right down to Seleste’s thighs, covering up much of the damage done by the scree and, thanks mainly to the strong painkillers, Malik and Spider in particular were reassured to see Seleste move as if she were battered rather than broken. With a final wave, they watched as their friends began to pick their way around the jumble of broken boulders and huge rocks on the valley floor.
Euan had eyes only for the motionless body now strapped to Jimmy’s back. He closed his eyes and focused on the link he shared with Anna. He tried to send strength to her, to tell her to hang on, that she’d be all right. He had no idea if she could sense him, but he had to try.
CHAPTER 28
S eleste’s painkillers were wearing off when Jimmy first caught sight of the hermit’s tiny cottage. “Go ahead, Jimmy. I’ll catch you up,” she told him. The big man gave her a nod and set off at a slow jog, trying not to bounce the Shaper on his back, but reckoning that time was the most important factor now. He’d seen the worried looks on Seleste’s face each time she’d looked at Anna. The girl was close to death.
A tall, thin woman in layers of beige and cream clothing was working in the garden when he arrived at the edge of the small property. She took one look and walked over to open the door to the tiny cottage, stepping aside so Jimmy could go straight in.
Jimmy nodded his thanks to the old woman and took Anna straight over to the only bed in the single-roomed home. He cut the ropes holding her on his back and gently lowered her to the mattress.
“Do you understand Standand, milady?” he asked politely, the honorific seeming appropriate for the woman’s elegance and bearing.
“I do,” she stated simply, putting her basket of freshly pulled vegetables down on a table then sitting down on the well-worn armchair by the bed. She put a hand out to touch Anna, but paused almost as if she were scared. “Who is she?”
“Her name’s Anna Northcott. She’s the King’s Shaper.”
“I have never heard of such.”
“It’s a new thing, milady. There is evil in the world. Anna is sworn to defeat it. She works for King Rybis.”
“She will die without a Healer.”
“Milady, I thought… I was told that you are a Healer.”
“Once, young man.”
“We have to save her, milady. Is there nothing you can do? Please?”
Ancient eyes seemed to Read Jimmy’s soul while the hermit considered his request. “I will do what I can,” she promised, finally laying her hands on Anna’s arm.
Jimmy looked at the Shaper properly for the first time. The burns were horrendous. The skin had all but melted from her face and half her hair had dissolved away from her scalp in the heat of the fireball. The head wound had stopped bleeding, but it was clear that her skull was smashed. Jimmy felt his knees give way and he slumped to the floor, dismayed by the extent of the girl’s injuries. He knelt by her side, willing her to survive.
“One sign would have been enough,” the old woman murmured.
Jimmy looked up to see the hermit touching Anna’s peristone bracelets with a rueful smile. “Sorry, what did you say, milady?” he asked.
“Nothing child. I sometimes talk to myself. It stops an old lady from getting lonely.”
“Can you save her?” he asked, scared to hear a negative.
“Perhaps, but I think we should see to your other friend first.” The old woman nodded towards the door.
Jimmy looked out to see Caitlin half carrying Seleste down the path. He ran out and lifted the assassin in his arms. She passed out as soon as her feet left the ground. Sheer willpower had kept her going so long.
By the time he’d got back inside, the old woman had laid a pile of blankets on the stone floor. Jimmy put Seleste down on her front and he and Caitlin gently removed Malik’s jacket.
“What happened?” asked the hermit.
“Anna’s horse was struck by fireballs. She hit her head hard when she fell then got hit again by a fireball while she was unconscious. Seleste… she saved her. I’m still not sure how. She jumped right over the edge as if she had wings and needn’t worry about falling then ran, no, Danced to where Anna dangled. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Jimmy shook his head, still unsure if his eyes had played tricks on him or if Seleste had truly defied physics. “She used her body to break Anna’s fall then cradled her as they slid down the slope. She took a load of painkilling herb, but she said it would only last two hours and it’s taken more than that to get here.”
“With broken bones all through her body too. This is a brave child.”
Jimmy’s mouth opened in shock. Seleste hadn’t complained even once and kept up with him almost the whole way. “She’s sworn to protect the Shaper,” he said in wonder.
The hermit nodded. “Brave and dutiful… I need water,” she told the big man before turning to the local girl and speaking to her in rapid-fire Shaen. The two islanders rushed to fulfil their orders, returning with fresh water from the well and clean cloths. “Now I think it is probably best if you go rest by the fire, young man.”
Jimmy didn’t want to leave his charges, but the old woman had begun to soak and strip away Anna’s burnt-on clothing.
Unbeknownst to the islanders, the old woman was looking for the crystal she knew was there. She hadn’t felt its touch in a long time, but she recognised it like a mother recognises its child.
The shard had been in a pouch around the girl’s neck. The leather had fused with her skin and a neighbouring gold medallion in the fire, but a sharp knife had the outer layer of the pouch opened and the contents revealed: a green crystal and a small golden pin in the shape of an anchor. The old woman put the pin to one side and clasped the crystal in her hand with great regret. She’d foresworn it many years ago, but it seemed she was called upon to use it one more time.
She turned to the brave, dutiful one. Seleste. She had a fine aura. Silver with whorls of colour that should be dancing but were currently twisted in horrendous pain. The hermit called her gift and put her hand on the girl’s head. The breaks were relatively simple, but there were many of them. She spoke to the redheaded child with the bright green aura and had her hold the collar bone in place then the arm bones. She manipulated the hand and the toes herself. The rest wouldn’t need to be set; they’d Heal with a whole body lifting of poison.
The girl woke with a start and jumped to her feet, her hands going straight for her blades. Yes, she was a fine protector. A fine assassin too. “Calm, child. She is safe.”
Seleste looked at the old woman sitting quietly beside Anna and nearly fell to her knees. There were two white auras: one strong, but ancient, one frail and fading. “Who are you?” she asked the hermit.
“Someone the light wanted you to find it seems, my dear. I need to tell you a few things before I Heal your friend. She will want to know what I said.”
Seleste noticed the past tense, but nodded for the woman to continue, intrigued.
“You would think I would have prepared for this, but I have not. One is never quite ready to accept one’s own end… Where shall I start? Perhaps at the beginning is best. We have a little time… My name is Evaline Desmarais. I was born four hundred and eighty-four years ago. I first Shaped when I was three. It seemed a perfectly natural thing to do. My mother was crying and I could see where the pain was so I reached in with my mind and blocked it. She was horrified. Aura Shaping was a perfectly acceptable career in those days, but
never without permission. And so began my schooling.
“The next two hundred years or so evolved into a living nightmare. You will have read the books or heard the stories, I am sure. They are not far wrong in the horrors that some of my fellow Shapers carried out for whatever twisted notions drove them. I fought against them and those who would kill us all for as long as I could. Then a gifted Seer told me it was my duty and fate to pass my light onto another and that all the good I had achieved would be for nothing if I did not run. I believed him. We came here… Samuel was his name. A true friend and the greatest, most loving companion a woman could ever wish for.
“He died two hundred and sixty years ago. Too old to be Healed anymore; his body simply gave out. I still miss him. But then came Breac. A fine, strong man with a wonderful sense of humour. He was Stone Elder here. I used up my last crystal not long after he died and swore never to touch another. It seems my will was not as free as I thought because here you are. Here she is… And so am I.”
The hermit Shaper shook her head. “But I digress… Let me see… She will want to know that my mother was a Healer, like hers, and that we all carry the birthmark, but it is unusual for so much to be above the skin. Those we bond true with tend to have them too. Both Samuel and Breac did, though neither were Aura Shapers. I knew I would probably outlive them, but it did not ease the loss. Healer Shapers live longer than any other. It seems that each time we refresh our aura, we are renewed. Almost like the light resets us back to how it thinks we should look.” The woman chuckled and idly ran her hand through Anna’s aura. “I always did want more womanly curves, but I never got my wish. Anna here will never grow a little taller or get a little stronger. We are what we are.”
Seleste saw Anna’s aura glow and her skin seem to lose some of its shiny tautness, but she saw no blackness fly into the green crystal in the hermit’s hand. Before she could ask what the old woman was doing, she was distracted by the next revelation.
“The peristone bracelets she wears were mine.”
